Scientific Breakthrough May Cure Baldness and Gray Hair

Many discoveries are made in a serendipitous manner. Scientists trying to find a cure for something notice that the discovery can be used or applied in a totally unexpected way. This is what happened when scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center stumbled upon a potential cure for baldness and graying in the not so near future. As it commonly happens in science, these researchers were studying tumors and how they form, in particular, cancerous tumors. What they discovered or uncovered is the gene that ends up turning hair gray and the cell that makes hair grow.

Associate Professor of Dermatology Dr. Lu Le at UT Southwestern Medical Centre said: “Although this project was started in an effort to understand how certain kinds of tumors form, we ended up learning why hair turns gray and discovering the identity of the cell that directly gives rise to hair.

With this knowledge, we hope in the future to create a topical compound or to safely deliver the necessary gene to hair follicles to correct these cosmetic problems.”

Not only is this discovery advantageous for cosmetic uses since one day there may be creams, pills, or ointments that may cure baldness or stop the hair from becoming gray, but is may also explain why we age. Since gray hair and baldness is one of the first signs of aging, this discovery will hopefully aid in finding the much-desired fountain of youth.

Woman showing gray hair

But there are other more encouraging developments for those of us who can’t wait till baldness and gray hair is totally eradicated. When it comes to finding a possible cure for baldness, there is a drug that seems to fit the bill. It is called ruxolitinib (used presently for chemotherapy and to treat certain bone marrow disorders (myelofibrosis, polycythemia vera).) and is being tested on people who have pattern baldness or alopecia. In trial studies, 95% of participants saw hair growth after only 4 months.

With scientific breakthroughs happening every day, we can expect that one day, there will be a cure for baldness and the tall tale gray hair.

As with any drug or prescription protocol, it is imperative that you are under a doctor’s care before embarking on any treatment!